Alloy



Patented Apr. 1, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE JOHN E. WOODWARD, OFNEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO KASTENHUBER & LEHR- FIELD, OF NEW YORK, N.Y., A PARTNERSHIP F CHARLES F. KASTENHUBER, WIL- LIAM F. LEHRFELD, ANDHUGO R. LEHRFELD ALLOY No Drawing. Original application filed December19, 1927, Serial No. 241,278. Divided and this application filed May 22,1929. Serial No. 365,232.

This invention relates to alloys and more particularly to an alloy for apen point though it is noted that the invention is not limited to penpoints.

One of the main objects of my invention is to provide an economicalosmium alloy for use as a pen point.

Another object of my invention is to provide an economical osmium alloythat is l0 tough, durable and which will take a high polish.

Another object of my invention is to provide a base alloy of nickel andtungsten that can be shipped to manufactuirers of pen points who canthen alloy the base alloy with osmium in the way I shall describe later.

Still another object of my invention is to provide an alloy of osmiumwith tungsten and nickel which will be tough, acid resisting, have adurable wearing surface, take a high polish and be economical toproduce.

And still another object of my invention is to provide a pen point madeof an alloy osmium, tungsten, nickel and if desired platinum, which willtake a nigh polish and have durable wearing surface, and be tough,fusible with great difficulty, be readily capable of soldering orfreezing to a gold nib, and yet be economical to produce.

Still other objects of my invention will appear as the descriptionproceeds; and while herein details of the invention are described andclaimed, the invention is not limited to these.

The matter herein described and claimed is described in my co-pendingapplication Serial No. 241,278 filed Dec. 19, 1927, for Pen pointalloys, of which application the present application is a division.

It is a well known fact in the art of making alloy pen points thatosmium is a desirable hardening constituent in pen point alloys. It hasbeen found that the hardness of such alloys increases in proportion tothe amount of osmium present therein. pure state is incapable of use inthe above respect- It is too brittle and friable. After fusion, and uponcracking or crushing, a pure osmium button (or even the native 50osmiridmm button) powders readily. This Osmium in the results in a veryserious loss since these metals are rare and precious, and much of thepowder gets lost.

It is therefore necessary to add a so-called toughening agent or metalto osmium in order to give it the strength required for practicable andeconomical commercial use. Toughening metals that have been addedheretofore are either of two kinds (a) Metals of the platinum group.

(6) Base metals such as nickel, cobalt, etc,

or any element or combination of elements which can impart the requiredstrength and toughness to the osmium metal.

The objection to the use of the platinum metals other than osmium bythemselves is that they are comparatively soft, and therefore reduce thehardness of the resultant alloy with osmium. The objection to the use ofthe base metals alone is that they do not form true solutions or alloyswith osmium. Thus upon cooling, segregation takes place and theresultant alloy is not of a homogeneous texture. Consequently a highpolished surface of uniform appearance cannot be procured.

Now I have discovered an alloy and a method of producing the same whichwill overcome all the above obstacles. I have discovered a method ofintroducing a toughening alloy into the osmium metal whereby a perfectlyhomogeneous alloy is produced and what is most important very little ofthe hardness of the osmium is lost. 7

I have found that although the metal tungsten when melted with osminumdoes not form a true solution, yet if the tungsten be first dissolved innickel, an alloy results which will form with osmiuma true solution andalloy, that will-impart to osmium the desired toughness, homogeneoustexture and durable wearing surface.

In fact a dual advantage is accomplished by my newly discovered process.It will be observed that I substitute a larger percentage of base metalsfor rare or 'semirare metals heretofore utilized in this art, and yet Iam able to equal any of the characteristics of the expensive rare metalalloys.

It will furtherbe noted that I provide a sten (M. P. 3500 C.) as thenickel fuses.'

The proportions for a given batch of base alloy, as I prefer to callthis alloy of nickel and tungsten, is 75% of tungsten and of nickel. Atabout 1900 C. it was found that a true solution took place. That is tosay the base alloy melts at about 1900 C.

It exhibits a uniform texture on polishing thus showing that it is freefrom segregation and is a homogeneous alloy.

I then may chill the tungsten-nickel solution, or I may add the osumiummetal. I use 80% of osmium (M. P 2400 C.) and 20% of the base alloy fora given batch of my final alloy. I find that at 2400 C.a true solutionof osmium, tungsten and nickel results. The resulting alloy at thispoint, upon chilling, has a uniform homogeneous texture and takes a veryhigh olish.

NowI can use other meta s of the nickel grou such as cobalt. I canlikewise use other metals of the tungsten group as molybdenum. AlthoughI have given 80% of osmium as a preferable proportion of that metal, Ihave found that I can use from 7 0-85% of osmium and from 30-15% of mybase alloy and still get good results.

To utilize my alloy a button of it is stamped, cracked or crushed toobtain pieces for freezing on to gold nibs and finishing as pen pointsand similar wearing surfaces. I find that my alloy does not power whencrushed. I get an alloy which hangs together when crushed and does notpowder. I get articles suitable for polishing and working.

then, greatly reduce the loss due to powdering and yet use inexpensivematerials. The texture is uniform and homogeneous and the surface of thepen point takes on a very high polish thus resulting in a smoothlywriting point.

The osmium alloy need not be formed immediately after thenickel-tungsten alloy. After the base alloy has been formed, I can chillit and ship it to pen manufacturers. In other words I thus provide abasic material or intermediate as a new composition of matcentagesstated, since the characteristics of the alloy are still preserved ifthe ranges of percentages of the final alloy do not exceed thefollowing: 10-20% of tungsten, 3-8% of nickel and 7 0-85% of osmium.

What I claim is 1. A process of producing an alloy of osimum for penpoints comprising the steps of adding tungsten to nickel as the latterfuses in the proportion of 75% of tungsten to 25% of nickel, heatinguntil a temperature of about 1900 C. is reached adding osmium to thetungsten-nickel alloy in the proportion of 80%. of osmium to 20% of thelatter until a temperature of 2400 C is reached, and finally chillingthe resulting solution for further use in making pen points.

2. An alloy having a melting point of about 2400 C. and capable oftaking a very high polish, said alloy comprising 70-85% of osmium and15-30% of a base alloy-composition principally comprising a metal of thetungsten group, and a metal of the nickel group alloyed in a proportionof about 3 parts of the metal of the tungsten group to one part of themetal of the nickel group.

3. An alloy comprising 80% of osmium; and 20% of a base alloy comprising75 parts of tungsten to 25 parts of nickel.

4. An alloy comprising 10-20% of a metal of the tungsten group; 3-8% ofa metal of the nickel group; and 70-85% of osmium.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York,this 16th day of May, A. D. 1929.

JOHN E. WOODWARD.

ter.

Although, this material may not be of much use itself, yet upon beingprocessed with osmium in the proportions described abovea finishedproduct is obtained that can then be used in the manner I have outlinedabove.

